Tech

Insane giant drone for consumers will fly at 50 mph

LAS VEGAS — Forget everything you know about the personal drone market and get ready to meet this big, badass Disco drone. It's Parrot's still-in-the-project-stage consumer wing drone that is set to put the consumer flyer market on its ear (or wing).

Looking like a cross between Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and a glider, the black and white disco is almost a meter wide, yet weighs just 1.5 lbs.

The drone actually shares some design characteristics with Parrot's pro-level flyer, the eBee, which is marketed under the company's SenseFly subsidiary. Like that all-gray drone, the Disco is made of a plastic carbon composite frame and a strengthened foam.

The lightweight Parrot Disco is made of foam

Disco will fly longer than any of Parrot's previous consumer drones, going almost 45 minutes on a a charge. It will also double the speed of Parrot's fastest drone, cruising along at up to almost 50 m.p.h.

More impressive is how you fly the Disco Drone. Imagine a giant paper airplane, but one with impressive smarts. Basically, you just pick up Disco Drone and throw it up in the air, then the myriad sensors — gyroscope, magnetometer, barometer, GPS Pitot speed sensor— take over. It will cruise up to 50 meters altitude and then more or less fly in a lazy circle until you take over and start piloting. You can pilot with Parrot's Freeflight app and the same Sky Controller used to pilot Parrot's Beebop drone. You can also buy an option remote control.

"A flying wing is usually very difficult to fly," explained Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux. However, the Disco never really relinquishes control.

"The autopilot won't let you crash it," said Seydoux.

The Parrot Disco has a 14 MP camera

At the tip of Disco Drone's nose is a 14-megapixel triple-axis, digitally-stabilized camera that'll give you a clear view on the ground of exactly what the drone is seeing in the air. It can store HD video on its 32 GB of internal storage (which you offload with a USB stick). You can grab lower resolution video directly via Wi-Fi.

When you're done flying, the Disco Drone will guide itself to a smooth, plane-like landing. That's important, given that it doesn't have wheels to roll on when it hits the ground.

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